Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk disclosed on Tuesday that the production cost of its humanoid robot, Optimus, is only half as much as manufacturing a car, despite the complexity involved in creating the robot.
Musk stated on X, "Complexity per unit mass is much higher with humanoid robots," but he added, "...still I think it ends up costing less than half of a car." This revelation came in response to Sam Korus, the director of research of autonomous tech and robotics at ARK Invest. Korus had suggested that the primary constraint in ramping up humanoid robots, as opposed to cars, would be software capability rather than manufacturing.
Complexity per unit mass is much higher with humanoid robots, but still I think it ends up costing less than half of a car
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2024
Less over time
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2024
In a subsequent post, Musk confirmed to an X user that the initial price of Optimus would range between $25,000 and $30,000, with the cost expected to decrease over time.
During Tesla's fourth-quarter earnings call in January, Musk expressed optimism about delivering some units of its Optimus humanoid robot next year. "I think we've got a good chance of shipping some number of Optimus units next year," Musk said. However, he also cautioned that there is a lot of uncertainty, making it impossible to make a precise prediction. "I do think it has the potential to be the most valuable product of any kind ever by far," he added.
Tesla introduced its humanoid bot in 2021 with the initial goal of handling unsafe, repetitive, or tedious tasks. The potential market for these bots is "huge," according to Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, given their ability to replace the workforce around the globe. Jonas noted in a late December report that the global labor market is about $30 trillion, or roughly 30% of global GDP.
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